Reduce packaging waste with common sense

The EPP Group wants to reduce packaging waste in Europe without resorting to unnecessary micro-management. "The new rules on packaging waste will make a change where change was due. We ensured that common sense prevailed over the ideology," says Massimiliano Salini MEP ahead of today's vote in the Environment Committee on the new law, which he negotiated on behalf of the EPP Group.

Thanks to the EPP Group, materials such as cardboard, which have high recycling potential, will be exempted from the obligation to re-use, today’s vote will confirm. "Is it really greener to, for example, return the carton of a bought washing machine or refrigerator to a distant location instead of recycling it? Cardboards can be recycled as much as 25 times. We made it possible for the truly environmentally friendly materials to remain in use," Salini emphasises.

Under the new rules, which will come into force on 1 January 2030, most of the packaging that will be banned is made of plastic.

"We succeeded in giving the industry sufficient time to adapt. The new rules will only reduce packaging there where it is really needed. Our first concern has always been food safety and health, where single-use packaging plays a key role in our everyday lives. The agreement recognises precisely this. One cannot generalise, single-use can still be the best environmental solution in certain circumstances," Salini concludes.